Jieshi village in the mountains of Beijing's Mentougou district offers peace and a genuine rural experience. [Photo by Erik Nilsson/China Daily]

Heaps of boulders that fill the desiccated pool bear paintings with such motifs as "the fairy's house", "immortal locust trees" and "magic plants".

(Great spot for hide-and-seek, by the way.)

Two locust trees nearby are said to be enchanted guardians of the village. Local lore holds that one caught fire yet survived in the 1980s.

Most arrivals to Jieshi are hikers.

They often use the settlement as a starting point for the 20-kilometer trek to nearby Lingshui village.

Lingshui lures more travelers because it's celebrated as the home of 22 scholars who passed the imperial exam, ancient trees and the Dragon King Temple.

We didn't walk this route. But we spent much of our time schlepping up the peaks and arriving in such unexpected places as Jieshi's overgrown hillside graveyard.

It was silent. The saying "quiet as a grave" came to mind.

We later surmounted the highest summit flanking the village to discover another abandoned red temple in the forest by the road by the village's gate.

Its paint flaked off in sheets if touched, like sunburnt skin. We left as soon as our toddler figured that out, to prevent him from damaging the isolated structure.

We walked back, soaking in the silence－aside from our footsteps, which sounded like giants'.

Then, we headed home to the loud sounds of the city.